How co-regulation helps to build trust

Children are no strangers to experiencing strong emotions throughout their early years. Recognising and understanding the stressors they encounter is crucial in helping them develop the essential self-regulation skills needed to navigate the highs and lows of life.

Enter co-regulation, a fundamental practice in this developmental process. Children are inherently wired to seek and thrive in connections with others, making co-regulation a natural and essential part of their development. As practitioners and caregivers, our primary role is to delve beyond children’s surface behaviours to fully understand the stressors they face, providing loving support for their immediate and often urgent needs.

In this collaborative process, adults and children work together with a shared purpose; to navigate and resolve the upsets and stressors that will inevitably arise throughout the day. Moreover, co-regulation experiences have a profound impact on the developing mind. Day by day, they shape the architecture of the child’s brain, gradually paving the way toward capacity for self-regulation and laying the foundation for lifelong emotional wellbeing.